Marketing to the Over 50s

The Over 50s usually include the retired, pensioners or people who have small part time hobby jobs; all of which tend to not have their children reliant on them any more as they have left home.

From this pie chart below, the number of people aged 65 and over is very little in comparison to the amount of people from the ages of 20-64. This is in 1901 which could be the reason why there were so many people of the younger generation. At that time families used to have five or six children.



This chart now shows a large change in all groups as it is 1951. The over 65+ have increased, with the 20-64s taking up most of the chart and with the least is the under 20s. This is around the time my parents were young and I remember him saying how little money they had. The reasoning to why the there were so little people under 20 could relate to the fact that people had became smarter and realised that too many children is a struggle when you don't have a lot of money.




In 2011, the group 20-64s have still dominated more than half of the population however the biggest change is with the 64+ who have increased significantly.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4045261.stm

During one of our Lectures we were put into groups and given a sheet with different groups of colour on them. One, being for children, one for 20s to 40s and then one for 50s+. The colours on the 50s+ page had a lot of creams and lilacs and lavender colours. This is the stereotype people associated the older generation with. Our task was to name a wall painting business and the colours on the page in which would attract our target market. Obviously names for the paint colours included ones such as 'lovely lavender'. Christmas cards and general card aimed at 50+ usually have some sort of lavender on it and perhaps a bouquet of flowers in a glass vase. They tend to be very simple.

The information below was found off a man called Andy Ownen's article to marketing to over 50s http://www.andyowen.co.uk/art5.html

He mentions that in the 30 years after this millennium, the over 50s sector will see an astonishing growth of 50% as well as almost half the population in the year 2030 being over 50 which includes 26% of the whole UK population over pension age.



He also found that the 'third-agers' can be divided into five lifestly groups (from a TGI sruvey):

*Thrifty Traditionals - this includes 17% of the age group. They tend to be not well off and have a very strict budget for every penny. They tend to watch a lot of TV and read tabloids.

*Outgoing Fun Lovers - They contribute to another 20%. They are magazine oriented, enjoy travelling, eating out, entertaining and tend to be above the average TV viewers.

*Astute Cosmopolitans - They add up to 18% of this age group. They tend to have the most money, like to read newspapers and specialist & lifestyle magazines. They also go abroad for holidays and don't tend to watch that much television.

*Apathetic Spenders - they consist of 22% more of the group. They take on debt through credit cards and usually do not take part in foreign holidays.

*Temperate Xenophobes - These make up the remainder of the sector. They love the Radio Times and most particularly do not like foreign food or travelling abroad and are heavy TV users.

This sector is said to be the most Currently, the over 50's sector is the most prosperous out of all the other marketing groups as 36% of all over 50s have an excess income of 20,000 pounds. The Henley Centre have estimated that 80% of the country's wealth is from the 50+ group.



This advert is aimed at the over 50s market. Firstly by the fact that everyone actually in the clip is over 50. The attire include the typical over 50s clothes with pastel colours and pearl earrings. When the transformation takes place, that nanny is wearing a silver glittery dress which looks almost 60s/70s based style. How the advert shows the nannies knitting the Shreddies is a hilarious stereotype of how everyone's grandmas knits! The older generation also like humour which is light-hearted and not rude which is exactly what this advert reflects. The backgroud music is also nostalgic to them as it reminds them of their younger days. It is clear to see this certain group of over 50s is in the category of 'Carefree' as they tend to act young and flirtatious. They seem to enjoy themselves and reverted back to teenagers. Even the man at the end in the red car is behaving like a forward, hormone raging teenage boy.